An Incident in a Traffic Jam

Driving a car caught in a traffic jam makes me irritable in all sorts of ways. All the more so when I have somewhere I absolutely must be by a certain time.

Lately, wishing I could pass the time calmly without wasting it, I have been carrying out a certain practice these past few months: from inside the car, to find twenty kinds of plants within my field of view before the car can get moving again at over 40 kph. It is quite hard, but it is fun. I get so absorbed in looking around that the car behind gives me a spiteful blast of its horn.

I know everyone is irritated, but there is such a thing as grace and consideration even in how one sounds a horn—and my concentration is thrown into disarray. Just then, a car cut in front of me from a side street. Calming myself and letting it in, a long blinking of its hazard lights, as if to say “thank you,” brought a small peace to my heart. “Wait… how many kinds of plants had I counted?”—and once again I grow irritated at my own still-immature spirit.